University City NC Real Estate

History
University City is found in northeastern Mecklenburg County, surrounding the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University Research Park. The concept for the University City began in the late 1960’s in conjunction with the inception of UNC Charlotte.

UNC Charlotte began in 1946, as one of fourteen college centers in communities throughout North Carolina, offering evening classes to 278 freshman and sophomore students in the facilities of Charlotte’s Central High School. In 1949, the state closed the centers, stating that on-campus facilities were adequate to fill the needs of returning veterans and recent high school graduates. Community business and education leaders, highly aware of the need for higher education in the Charlotte area, pushed to have the Charlotte Center taken over by the city school district and operated at Charlotte College. In 1961, Charlotte College moved into two new buildings on what has now become the 1,000 acre campus of UNC Charlotte, just 10 miles from downtown Charlotte. The North Carolina Legislature passed bills making Charlotte College a four-year, state-supported college, in 1964. The following year another bill was passed creating the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the fourth campus in a statewide university system. Since then, the university has begun offering program’s leading to master’s degrees as well as doctoral degrees. UNC Charlotte is currently the fourth largest of the 16 institutions within the University of North Carolina system.

Today
The University City is now a unique area encompassing an assorted population, large retail base, considerable business development and numerous amenities. The budding area is home to more than 150,000 residents and extends from I-77 to the Cabarrus County Line; many people also include Charlotte Motor Speedway and Concord Mills into the University City. In February of 2009 IKEA opened its first store in the Carolinas, in the University City area.

Lifestyle
University City has seen exceptional growth in the last 15 years. The area is covered with sought after neighborhoods, shopping centers and office buildings.

Highland Creek is one of the University City area’s hottest-selling subdivisions; offering its residents a club house, golf course, numerous pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, fitness center and more. Homes in Highland Creek range from the mid $100s to $400s.

Christenbury is another sought after community in the University City area. Christenbury offers four distinct residential villages to accommodate different lifestyles. Christenbury walk offers elegant townhomes surrounded by preserve areas and parks. Christenbury Mews is on the northeast section of the community offering single family homes from the $280s. Christenbury Wood is a collection of single family homes with a special collection of homes inspired by English villages. The homes in this area start in the low $400s. Christenbury Hall offers a variety of luxury single family homes, with many of the homes located on wooded cul-de-sac lots. The homes in this village are on the largest home sites in Christenbury and are priced from the $600s. 

The University Research Park is a 46-acre area of professional offices, restaurants and hotels. The area is home to several hundred companies with multiple thousands of employees. Some of the largest employers are Wachovia, TIAA CREF and IBM. After a busy year filled with complex planning processes involving meetings and discussions of real estate, charters, bylaws and financing mechanisms, the University Research Park was formed in early 1967. This area has now become a bustling, rapidly growing portion of Charlotte.

Charlotte Motor Speedway includes nearly 2,000 acres located on US Highway 29 in Concord, offering a 1.5 mile quad oval, a 2.25 mile road course a six-tenths-mile karting layout in the speedway’s infield. The first World 600 was run at the facility on June 19, 1960. In 1992, a lighting system was installed, permitting Charlotte Motor Speedway to be the first modern superspeedway to host night auto racing. Some of the major events held at Charlotte Motor Speedway include three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, two NASCAR Nationwide Series races and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The grandstands have been expanded on various occasions and the current seating capacity is approximately 140,000.

Concord Mills is a 1,334,000 square foot mall opened in 1999 offering over 200 stores; including manufacturer and retail outlets, off-price retailers, other unique specialty stores, a food court, NASCAR themed fun park, a 24-screen AMC theatre and North Carolina’s only Bass Pro Shops. Concord Mills is the #1 shopping entertainment destination of the Carolinas and North Carolina's #1 visitor attraction, located on Concord Mills Boulevard just off of I-85, approximately 10 miles north of downtown Charlotte.

Parks and Recreation
The University Area is host to various parks offering basketball courts, disc golf, tennis courts, baseball fields, multi-purpose fields, playgrounds, picnic areas and more.

Schools
Residents in the University City area will attend the schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district is among one of the nation’s 25 largest school districts. The district consists of 176 schools and more than 133,600 students ranging from kindergarten to 12^th grade. This breaks down to 103 elementary schools, 33 middle schools, 31 high schools, 4 alternative schools and 5 pre-k sites. In 2009, Newsweek recognized 11 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg High Schools among America’s top 1,500 schools that do the best job of preparing average students for college, out of more than 27,000 high schools that were surveyed.